Margaret Fuhrer's blog

This weekend, British paper The Guardian ran an excellent profile of lovely Royal Ballet principal SarahLamb. While the piece includes discussion of several standard-issue (albeit perennially fascinating) topics—including her preparation for the upcoming Giselle and her work with mentor Tatiana Legat—there are also a few surprises.

After a stressful day spent arranging her dance school's first performance, ballet teacher Phillipa Burt was surprised by an onstage proposal from her boyfriend, Joe King. The curtains parted at the conclusion of the show to reveal her tutu-clad students holding up letters that spelled, "Marry Me."

All together now: Awwwww.

And good on Mr. King for realizing that for us ballet people, there are few places more special than the stage.

The New York City Ballet Art Series kicked off last year with an installation by Brooklyn-based artists FAILE. The giant tower they constructed for the Koch Theater's promenade was good kitschy fun, peppered with cartoonish images of ballet dancers (among many, many other things).

Few partnerships were more captivating—or more unlikely—than that of Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. Though the elegant British ballerina was nearly two decades older than the Russian firebrand, together they made unforgettable magic onstage. Here they are in the balcony scene from Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet. Happy #ThrowbackThursday!

It's just not the holidays until you've watched the classic 1977 film of American Ballet Theatre in The Nutcracker—not least because the production stars the extraordinary Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland. PBS used to air it every December, but that tradition came to an end several years ago. So we're upholding it here, with a couple of our favorite clips from the film. Enjoy, and happy holidays, everyone!

Can't get enough of city.ballet.? Every Monday, we post a new interview with a different cast member from the AOL On docu-series about New York CityBallet. For our final installment, we talk to principal Maria Kowroski.

Why are peeks at ballet companies' shoe rooms always so intriguing? We all wear pointe shoes; we know what they look like. But a dancer's shoes—especially when, as at the Royal, they're customized to her specifications—are incredibly personal. In a way, visiting a shoe room is like peering into so many artists' souls.

Can't get enough of city.ballet.? Every Monday, we'll be posting a new interview with a different cast member from the AOL On docu-series about New York City Ballet. This week, we talk to principals Robert Fairchild and Tiler Peck.

Colorado Ballet's latest promotional video is sure to become an instant classic. To get audiences geared up for its Nutcracker (which runs through December 28), the company put together a little day-in-the-life portrait of the Rat King. Turns out the world is not such a friendly place when you're a giant, cheese-loving, nutcracker-hating rat.

From the late 1930s through the '50s, leggy, vivacious Alexandra Danilova and versatile, magnetic Freddie Franklin had a great partnership at the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, where Léonide Massine's comedic Gaîté Parisienne was one of their signature ballets. (American Ballet Theatre is reviving the ballet this spring.) Here they are in a rare recording of the ballet's "Waltz Duet for the Baron and Glove Seller." Happy #ThrowbackThursday!